Behind the Book Reading Series

As part of our effort to raise our public profile, this fall we're starting a reading series. Both authors who participate in our programs and author-friends of Behind the Book will read. Our goal is to become a more visible presence in NYC, garner some press, and raise some cash from pre- or post-reading donations. Thus far, A.M. Homes, Adam Rapp, Jonathan Ames, and Ned Vizzini have agreed to read this fall.

Come join Behind the Book and hear two rising literary stars, Marcy Dermansky and Hannah Tinti, read from their recent works.

When: December 8 from 7:00-9:00pm
Where: KGB Bar, 85 E 4th Street;
(between Second and Third Aves.; take the F/V to Second Ave. or the No. 6 to Astor Place)
Contact: www.kgbbar.com or 212 505 3360
Admission free.

RSVP (optional) to readingseries@behindthebook.org

Marcy Dermansky is a MacDowell Fellow and the winner of the 2002 Smallmouth Press Andre Dubus Novella Award and the 1999 Story Magazine Carson McCullers Short Story Prize. Her short fiction has appeared in the Indiana Review, McSweeney's, Alaska Quarterly Review, Mississippi Review, and other publications. She is the film critic for About.com and belongs to the New York Online Film Critics Society. TWINS is her first novel.

Hannah Tinti's work has appeared in various magazines and anthologies, including Best American Mystery Stories 2003. Her short story collection, Animal Crackers, has been translated into thirteen languages, and was recently a runner-up for the PEN/Hemingway award. Her novel, Resurrection Men, is forthcoming with the Dial Press. She is currently the editor of One Story magazine. Read more about Hannah at www.hannahtinti.com.

Marcy excerpts:

HarperCollins:
On the eve of their thirteenth birthday, identical twins Chloe and Sue agree to get matching tattoos to prove their bond is stronger than DNA. S o begins Twins, Marcy Dermansky's comic and disturbingly honest debut novel, the extraordinary story of two blond, beautiful, and tormented twin sisters trying to survive adolescence -- and each other.

Kirkus Review (Starred review)
Dermansky's first novel embraces and transcends the coming of age genre by overlapping the stories of twin sisters….Sometimes despairing, sometimes blackly humorous, always engrossing and thoroughly original. A wonderful debut.

Library Journal Review
We've all heard stories about twins who are polar opposites. In her debut novel, Dermansky injects this seemingly tired premise with dark humor and raw power…. Her portrayal of the difficulty of growing up and of raising children in today's world rings true.

Bookslist Review
A beguiling story of the powerful ties between identical twins….With the ability to blend humor with these sometimes sad and lonely lives, Dermansky has crafted a memorable novel.

Hannah excerpts:

Publishers Weekly
Animals play the starring roles in Tinti's striking debut collection. In 11 highly original, sometimes gorgeous stories, they are freighted with the symbolic significance of all that is peculiar, cruel and loving in their human counterparts….A redeeming generosity underlies the harsher realities in these stories, and it is to Tinti's credit that her zookeepers and pet owners, as flawed as they are, are as sympathetic as her wise giraffes and gentle bunnies.

From the Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Readers
Animal Crackers is a sublime collection of haunting and unusual stories in which animals both domestic and wild hold up a mirror to their human counterparts…Each of these stories resonates because we recognize Tinti's characters: They are people we know, those we have heard described, and sometimes, to our shame, ourselves. With a spare writing style, evocative of Raymond Carver yet clearly her own, in Animal Crackers Hannah Tinti displays her talent for finding the humor in difficult and painful situations and brings us a book full of stories that is a joy to read.

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